Joseph Prince - Holy Communion; God's Provision for Healing and Life (02/07/2026)
This sermon focuses on partaking of Holy Communion worthily, drawing from Matthew 26 and 1 Corinthians 11. The key point is that we partake not by focusing on our sins but by discerning and believing in the finished work of Christ's body and blood for our forgiveness and healing. The conclusion is that partaking unworthily means not distinguishing this provision, leading to self-judgment, while partaking worthily in faith accesses God's health and life.
The Sequence of Communion: When Does It Become Real?
We are continuing our series on the grain, the wine, and the oil. This is what I want to show you. Look at Matthew chapter 26 first. In Matthew 26 it says, "Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.'" So did drinking proceed what He said? Or did He let them drink first and then say, "This is my blood"? Over here, we're not told the sequence. Did the disciples drink first from the cup, and then He says, "This cup is the new covenant"? Or did He say, "This cup is the new covenant," then they drank? This is important. We are learning how to partake and partake according to the phrase "worthily" as well.
Here He says, "for the remission of sins." One way to partake worthily is you partake knowing your sins have been remitted because of the blood. That's honoring what Jesus has done. Anything less—if you are sin-conscious, looking for sin, for sin, for sin—when Jesus himself said that drinking this cup is for the remission of sins, not that at that time your sins are remitted, but it's to illustrate that His blood is the reason why your sins are no more in your life. Not that you cannot sin, not that you are now completely sinless. No. But God is not reckoning you based on unforgiven sin. Your sins are all remitted. They're all forgiven. When you partake of the Lord's Supper, you should be conscious of that and not conscious of your sin still being in you. That is judging yourself worthily.
The question again is, did He give them the bread and the cup and they partook, then He said, "This is my body, this is the cup of the new covenant"? Why am I saying this? It's crucial. The order is crucial. I'll tell you why. There is a place where it's a symbol, and there's a place where it becomes real. So let's go to Mark. Mark has the order. Look at this: "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body.' Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them..." Do you hear that? "He took the cup; when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, 'This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.'" So which one happened first? His statement about the cup or their drinking? They drank first.
From Common to Holy: The Moment of Partaking
The thing is this: as long as you hold the bread in your hand, it is still natural. You understand? So it's okay. When we are handling it, it's common. It's normal. When does it become uncommon, holy? When you come before the Lord—by the way, you don't need a priest, you don't need a pastor, you don't need me. They broke bread from house to house. We are all priests. We are all a royal priesthood. Amen. So when you take the bread, it's still bread. When you come before the Lord and you meditate and you thank the Lord and you say, "Lord, I discern your body... that on that tree, you bore away all my sins, all my diseases, all my infirmities, all my pains". You can include, "All my aging". Because from aging comes all kinds of sickness. And in heaven everyone is young, right? So you can put it down there. "And, Lord, I thank you. By your stripes I am healed". And you partake. Now, watch this. When you partake, when does it become the body of the Lord? When it goes in. After you partake, it is the body of the Lord. You got it? That's what I believe.
I believe that the language of Jesus in John 6 and on cannot just make it purely symbolic, cannot. Are you listening? As long as that's outside, it is still... it was after they partook He says, "This cup is a new covenant in my blood. You just drank it, right? This is my body broken for you," after they ate it. You understand? Are you with me so far? So we got that settled. By the way, Holy Communion is the substance of the shadow of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament we have a shadow. On the night of the Passover, God told Israel to put the blood on the doorposts and on the lintel, making the cross. Can you see it? And God said, "Eat the roasted lamb roasted in fire, and do not eat it sodden with water". Do not water down the person of our Lord Jesus. Don't water it down. Don't just say that He's a good man, but He's not roasted in fire. Don't eat Him not roasted in fire.
The Passover Shadow and the Substance of Communion
Roasted in fire means see Him at the cross, suffering your judgment and my judgment because He was carrying our sins. That's how you partake worthily. So they were partaking of the roasted lamb. They ate the head, they ate the entrails, they ate the feet. And whatever they were suffering from, if they're suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's, they partook of even the brain, while the judgment was going on outside, the angel of death was passing by. Now, listen carefully. God is not requiring great faith to eat, only hunger, amen? God doesn't need great faith for you to put on the blood, just obedience, amen? And it doesn't matter how afraid they are, trembling, when they know that at that hour, at the midnight hour the angel of death is passing by.
If they are struggling—and some of them are really crying, bawling in the house—but as long as the blood is there, they are safe. They just wasted all their emotions. They just wasted all their fears. Am I right? Because their security lies not in their faith, it lies in the blood. Am I right? So another house, an Egyptian house: "Ah, don't worry. Nothing will happen to us. All this, Moses, ah, fake news. Don't worry about it. Nothing is gonna happen to you". For him, there's no blood on the doorpost, nothing, but they are very confident. You might even say they look like people of faith. What's gonna happen that night? The moment it strikes midnight, the son drops dead, the firstborn, amen? It's not your confidence, it's not your great faith, it's not even positive thinking; it is the blood—or the lack of it, amen? Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Can I have a good amen?
So put this in the Communion. Whether you fully understand, you don't fully understand, doesn't really matter. Jesus died for you. His blood has been shed. What you need to do is partake worthily, not try to earn it, not try to deserve it. Just know that, "He did it for me". That's all you need to do, amen. So watch this. 1 Corinthians 11. Paul says this: "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of Me.'" Now, listen carefully. This is direct revelation from the Lord. He didn't learn this from Matthew, he didn't learn this from Bartholomew, he didn't learn this from Thomas.
Direct Revelation: The Provision for Health and Healing
They were all there in the upper room. He could have gone to them and asked them, but he received straight from the Lord. "For I received from the Lord". What is it about the Communion that is so important that the Lord Jesus Himself—whether it's in vision form or Jesus came to him directly and taught him—he received from the Lord directly this revelation. And it was from Paul that we learn about health and healing being available and how neglecting this provision from God is causing people to be weak, sickly, and dying prematurely. So we have this idea that, in churches today, if you partake of the Lord's Supper and you have sin in your life, then you might be sick. It's a judgment. Because there's sin in your life, you might even die prematurely.
And they got it from this passage, and the whole thing is misconstrued. You know, I did my best not to go into the theological part, but the moment I did that, something happened to me. I felt the Lord saying, "No. You teach that". So I'm going to teach that as much as I can today. So, first of all, it's a direct revelation from the Lord. Are you listening? Number two, the Lord watches over this provision. For some reason, people say, "You know, Pastor Prince, it's just a piece of cracker and a piece of juice. What can it do?" Well, you know what happened when that woman said, "Yes, master," when she was looking for the Lord's healing for her daughter who was demon-possessed? And she says, "Even the crumbs that fall from the master's table". And the Lord says, "For this saying, go thy way. The devil has gone out of your daughter".
Even a crumb can drive a demon out, can drive the cancer out because it is a symbol of the body of Jesus. Hey, folks, we are not like the puppies under the table. We are seated at the table. We don't have crumbs, we have the whole bread. She's just saying even the crumbs that the puppies eat. Even puppies eat the crumbs. The puppies are Gentiles. We're not that level. We're not Gentiles. We are the church of Christ. Can I have a good amen? So here we go. Paul says, "Guys, you are missing out". And that's the reason we don't understand that God has given us a provision that we don't have to suffer like the world. The world has what? Sickness, dying prematurely. "But I've given you a provision," God is saying, "the body and the blood of my Son. If you'll partake, you will escape the condemnation, the sentence of this world".
Escaping the World's Sentence Through Communion
See, the world... there's a sentence in this world. Ever since Adam sinned, the sentence was what? Death. But before death is what? Weakness, sickness, death. So that's the sentence of the world. Now, we are not to suffer that sentence. Listen carefully. Christians do get sick. At times, I get sick, but I know when I get sick that this is not God's will for me, compared to people who are sick and thinking, "What is God teaching me? 'Cause God gave me this sickness". That's totally a different ball game. So, here, we must be clear that there was no sickness, there was not even death until Adam sinned. So now it's not part of God's plan. If it's part of God's plan, you'll see death even before Adam sinned. Adam would have been burying some animals. No. Death only came in because of sin.
That tells us God... the way God hates sin, God hates death; the way God hates sin, God hates sickness. And that's why the number one thing Jesus did in His ministry, besides preaching, is that He went around healing all that were sick. You never find one time that Jesus looked at someone and said, "You're too healthy. Come here, receive a bit of leprosy. I don't know why I'm doing this, but there's a reason God is doing this to you". Never. You know, He is always providing. He never said, "These people are hungry for 3 days. But you know what? There are people who fast for 7 days. Ask Daniel. It's time for them to learn discipline". No, He fed them. They were hungry, He fed them. So does God want to supply? Yes. And the supply only stops when they stop.
The Bible says as much as they would. He gave them as much as they would, not as God would. So God wants you to be blessed. He wants you to have provisions, yes. He wants you to be healthy, yes. And, you know, straight away, "Oh, that's a prosperity gospel!" Okay, praise God. Hallelujah. I'm ignorant. Amen? All I know is that the gospel is called the gospel of the grace of God, but I'm so ignorant that I think that the gospel of the grace of God from history, wherever it has gone, has brought civilization. Women are respected and honored. Education has been the stronghold of Christians in every country where the gospel has gone. Amen. Children are given a chance to be educated.
The Simple Act of Partaking: Reversing the Curse
So what has happened is that, instead of partaking of the provisions... "Pastor Prince, just eating is such a simple act". A simple act brought the entire fall of man. It was a simple act. Every time you cry tears because of someone's death, just remember: a simple act caused everything happening. All the curse came in because of a simple act. Doesn't it stand to godly reason, then, that God ordained you can eat your way out of the curse? Everything began with the simple act of eating. They could look at the tree, no problem. They could even touch the tree, no problem. Eve added, "cannot touch it". God never said cannot touch it, but don't eat it. Eating is partaking. So you are the same when you partake. Don't just listen about the Communion. It's when you partake. Amen.
So let's go on. Praise God. Verse 25, "In the same manner He also took the cup and said, 'This cup is the new covenant. Do this in remembrance of me.'" Don't forget, all this is given by the Lord Jesus direct. "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes". Proclaiming the Lord's death. Some of you are proclaiming the Lord's death. Now we come to this exciting part. "For as often..." as often, not as seldom. Verse 27, drop down, "Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord," okay? Notice, focus on "in an unworthy manner". So every time I come sin-conscious, it's unworthy. Because He said the cup is for the remission of sins.
And you are acting like sin is not remitted. It's unworthy. Amen? "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup". The way it's taught today is like this: Let a man examine himself for sin, right? It doesn't say let a man examine himself and abstain from the bread and push away the cup. That's what I used to do. After I examined myself, I had no more faith to partake. I was so scared. But the word "examine" is the Greek word dokimazo. Dokimazo is the word "examine for good things". Look at this, dokimazo, definition of Vine's Expository. Vine is a great Greek scholar. He said this of dokimazo: to prove with a view to approving, not a view of something negative. It's to prove something good, to prove with a view to approval!
Are you listening? So this idea of examining yourself for sin doesn't fit in with dokimazo. Okay, go back to the passage again. Let a man examine, approve himself, amen? Yes, I know the purpose of the Lord's Supper. I know His body was broken for my sins and for my diseases, amen? I partake, receiving His health. I know. I'm examining myself. I'm proving what is a proof. Are you listening? Okay, so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. It doesn't say examine yourself and then abstain. That's what's happening in the church. Drop down. "For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body". Now, drinks judgment to himself. This is the part where it gets a bit concerning for people.
Discerning the Lord's Body to Avoid Self-Judgment
"Drinks judgment to himself". "Well, Pastor Prince, there you go. It drinks judgment". Now, let me just tell you this. The word "judgment" here is krima. Judgment is there. You can also judge yourself. Am I right? So who is the one that's partaking unworthily? He's the one who is eating, judging himself. He's eating judgment to himself. The word "to himself" is the reflexive noun in the Greek. Reflexive noun means the person is doing it to himself, not God. Reflexive noun is like John is doing to John, Mark is doing to Mark. Nobody outside is doing it to him. In other words, he's sin-conscious. He's eating sin-conscious. He's still feeling judgment. He's eating judgment. He's not eating justification. Are you listening?
"To himself" means... in the Greek it's a reflexive noun. It's something he's doing to himself. So if you partake with judgment to yourself, if you are self-condemned you partake, that is partaking unworthily, because the cup that you hold is proof that your sins have been put away, yet you're seeing your sins on yourself. You are drinking judgment to yourself, not judgment from God. For this reason, not discerning the Lord's body. So another feature is this. Then you are condemning yourself. You're not discerning the Lord's body. The Lord's body was broken—listen—was broken so that judgment will not be part of your life. Judgment is over and gone. He dispensed the judgment of God. So also the body... another judgment on mankind in terms of our body is sickness and death fastening itself.
So we can discern the Lord's body. Why was His body broken? You must make a difference. Now we come to the Greek word "not discerning the Lord's body". It is the word... "not discerning" is the word diakrino. And diakrino in the Thayer's definition is: to separate, make a distinction, discriminate, to prefer. Now, look at me. Do you know something? Mark 11:23, that famous passage says that if you speak to the mountain and you don't doubt in your heart, you will do not only what is done to the fig tree that was cursed, but the mountain will move. And the word "doubt not in your heart," we always teach "doubt not" means don't doubt, but actually there's another place where that word doubt is used.
The Power of Distinguishing: Body for Healing, Blood for Forgiveness
When Peter was walking on the water, then he looked at the storm and the waves, then he sank. Jesus grabbed hold of him and Jesus said, "Why did you doubt?" It's a different word from diakrino. Over there, it is literally doubt. It is the word distazo. In other words, distazo is made of double standing. Stasis is standing. Dis, double. Distazo. "Why did you distazo? You are believing me, looking at me, and you're looking at circumstances. You have two standings. Why do you..." that's doubt. But in Mark 11:23, He says if you... is diakrino, don't doubt in your heart. Don't make a distinction between the cursing of the fig tree. Many people say, "I can curse the fig tree, it's small, but moving a mountain, I can't". Don't make a difference. Don't make a difference. Do not diakrino in your heart.
Because diakrino means what? Separate. There it says doubt, to be at variance with oneself. Another revelation there is krino is judging. Dia is "by means of". You are judging yourself, you can't speak to the mountain. Okay? Got it so far? But the primary use of diakrino is to make a distinction. So let's go back to the passage again. And it says not discerning the Lord's body means what? You are not making a distinction. A lot of people take the bread and take the cup and just say, "I've taken Communion already". They don't distinguish. Do you know the blood—many people know the blood is for the forgiveness of sins, amen? But they lump both the bread and the cup as one. No one taught them to distinguish, make a difference between the bread, the Lord's body; and the blood, the cup.
So for this reason, I'm not distinguishing, not diakrino. "For this reason many are weak and sick among you and fall asleep". They die prematurely. Is this God's will? No. Amen. I pray that this will encourage you to partake of the Lord's Supper, especially when you've been diagnosed with something, hands have been laid on you. But you know what? Don't give up. Keep on partaking. Many times the miracles I see through the Lord's Supper have not come instantaneously. They've come thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and then a hundredfold, but it will surely come.